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Mario Affatigato

Mario Affatigato

Fran Allison and Francis Halpin Professor of Physics

B.A., Coe College
Ph.D., Vanderbilt University
Email: maffatig@coe.edu

Dr. Affatigato’s personal research interests lie in the area of the optical and electrical properties of glasses and the relationship between such properties and the structure of the glass.

Affatigato’s research groups primarily work on the use of laser light in the manufacture and study of glasses. In one project, for instance, laser light is used to melt a glass bead while it is being levitated by a gas. In another, Raman spectroscopy is used to look at changes in the structure of glasses. In a third project, student researchers look at the molecules that come off a glass as it is hit by UV laser light. Dr. Affatigato and his students also work on projects such as development of glass that kills bacteria, or developing conducting glasses that can be used in particle detectors. Mario and his students also map the surface topography of glasses using atomic force microscopy.

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Ugur Akgun

Ugur Akgun

B. D. Silliman Professor of Physics

B.S., Middle East Technical University
Ph.D., University of Iowa
Email: uakgun@coe.edu

Ugur's research area expands from experimental high energy physics to computational biophysics. He is involved in Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland. Ugur is also member of SELEX and MIPP experiments at Fermi National Laboratory, in Batavia, Illinois. His main expertise is on radiation hard particle detectors. His recent projects include novel glass detectors, such as neutron detectors for homeland security, 3 dimensional dosimeters, and proton imaging detector. Ugur’s group develop the novel materials, design and perform the simulations of these detectors.

Ugur's secondary research area is computational biophysics. His group use various molecular dynamics simulation techniques to determine the mechanisms of membrane proteins. Ugur and his students are recently simulating P-Glycoproteins, Urea and Ammonia channels, and AQP0-CaM system.

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Firdevs Duru

Firdevs Duru

Associate Professor of Physics, Chair

B.S., Bosphorus University
M.S., Ph.D., University of Iowa
Email: fduru@coe.edu

Firdevs’ main research interest is the ionosphere around the planets. Dr. Duru’s group analyzes the data coming from the spacecrafts Mars Express, MAVEN, Juno and Cassini.

 

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James Cottingham

James Cottingham

Professor of Physics, Emeritus

B.A., M.S., University of Chicago
M.S., Ph.D., University of Iowa

James Cottingham performs research on musical acoustics. His specialty is free-reed instruments, including several from around the world, especially from Southeast Asia.

 

 

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Li Xiang

Xiang Li

Assistant Professor of Engineering Physics

B.S., Northeastern University (Shenyang, China)
M.S., Rochester Institute of Technology
Ph.D., West Virginia University
Email: xili@coe.edu

Xiang Li is a trained biomedical engineer working at the interface of biotechnology, physics, chemistry, material science and biology.

@IUB: 1) Biosensor integrated acoustofluidics: a contact-free platform to trap or manipulate biologicals and microfluidic flow with surface acoustic waves. This method can address challenges in bio-manufacturing, point-of-care testing devices, and tissue engineering. 2) Brain organoid systems: 3D human brain organoids are 3D in vitro brain-like cultures derived from human iPSCs. He is developing and engineering human brain organoid-on-a-chip systems to study neural disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS), Alzheimer's disease (AD) and aging/disease-related neuroinflammation.

@UPitt: 1) Human tissue chips for liver disease modeling: exploring and developing layered glass/plastic chips with vascular and hepatic components which is also integrated with pH and oxygen sensor. The goal of this project is to culture human hepatocytes and all the supporting non-parenchymal cells (either primary or iPSCs-derived) on a bio-printed ECM layer to mimic the composition, structure, and function of the native liver. 2) The integration of multiple human organ chips (liver, pancreas islets, and white fat tissue) to recapitulate the biologically relevant heterogeneity of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD), Type-2 diabetes (T2D), and metastatic melanoma.

@PennState and WVU: Microfluidic-based microvessel: by culturing primary human endothelial cells under a more physiologically realistic environment, his goal is to bridge the gap between in vivo and in vitro studies in the field of microvascular-related research. This approach serves as a perfect tool for providing insights into clinical issues, as it can be used to investigate the effects of normal or pathologically altered blood components on endothelial cell signaling and functions. He is also interested in the recapitulation of vascular microenvironments to study the interaction between endothelial cells, extracellular matrix and perivascular cells.

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James Wetzel

James Wetzel

Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics

B.S., Ph.D., University of Iowa

James Wetzel is currently affiliated with both CERN and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory where he is actively involved in the field of experimental particle physics. His main interest is in the design, simulation, construction, and finally testing of detectors, in particular hadronic and electromagnetic calorimeters.

He has a passion for space and astronomy and has brought that to Coe by designing a general education astronomy course with lab component, which he loves to teach!

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Jacob Wheaton

Jacob Wheaton

Assistant Professor of Glass Science

B.S., Ph.D., Iowa State University
Email: jwheaton@coe.edu

Jacob’s background is in materials science and engineering, with a focus on glass science and engineering. He is interested in studying the physical properties of glass, particularly the crystallization and viscosity behavior of phosphate glasses, and the ionic conduction properties of glasses as well. Jacob is working to continue collaborations from his previous work, particularly with the University of Rennes in Rennes, France.

During his Ph.D. work, Jacob worked to develop thin film oxy-sulfide glasses for use in solid-state batteries. He developed a thin film drawing process similar to that used to create the ultra-thin glass used in many cell phone screens. With this, Jacob was able to synthesize highly ionically conductive lithium glasses at thicknesses near 50 μm. This required extensive knowledge of the crystallization and viscosity behavior of the glass chemistry. Jacob’s research at Coe is to take a deeper dive into crystallization and viscosity behavior of glasses that have minimal research into them, such as phosphates and borates.

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